Tuesday 26th August: Raining all day - Morning 10°C, Col d'Pinter 5°C, Ferraro 15°C
Rifugio Alpenzu to Rifugio Ferraro: 17.9k: 7.45am to 4.45pm: 9hrs
Accommodation: Rifugio Ferraro
Everything we own we're wearing
You win some you lose some. Yesterday I had a win when I back tracked to find my glasses. Today we had a loss - a fox stole our lunch bag. It rained all day but wasn't freezing cold. We teamed up with two Danes, Simon and Jens, to cross the Col de Pinter at 2,777 metres. We really enjoyed today’s walk compared to the alternative route via Betta Forca which was through denuded ski fields.It's 6.30am and we wake to misty drizzle. The bad news is our lunch bag we left sitting outside the door is gone! A rat? All we have left is the apple strudel, 2 tomatoes, some green leaves and a slab of butter. Our lovely mortadella, cheese, meusli bars and nutty bread are gone! Another shower warms us up and off to breakfast where our host informs us that it was the fox that would have stolen our bag. Well it's now a fat fox. Breakfast is spartan but the tea is hot. Stale bread and jam with Italian cruskits.
It's pea soup as we leave
Mist in Gressoney valley below
Still smiling
OK for coffee, not much cow plop
It's warm and smelly inside
Above the mist it's rainy but bright
Simon and Jens appear
They soon catch me up
Col de Pinter at 2777 metres high
Yes, another Col conquered
Mist in the valley on other side
Down there somewhere is a Hotel
Lunch outside the Ski lift
Along the ridge to Resy
Very pretty after the rain
At last our home for tonight
Good day to be a dog - Chester at home snuggled up in bed.
The Danes are contemplating whether or not to go over the Col de Pinter, the Italian family and their son have already decided not to. We're going and put on every piece of rain gear we own before we leave - rain pants, rain jacket, poncho, gloves with rain mittens. It's not too cold as we head on up the mountain and quickly work up a sweat getting damp on the inside. My thermal feels drenched.
We climb above the mist and it's quite bright. After two hours and still another hour to climb, we come across a cow shed - a good place for coffee and dry biscuits. oh for a some cheese and mortadella. Damn that fox! Upwards to the Col de Pinter on a well graded track. The two Danes catch us up and we arrive at the 2,777 metre Col de Pinter together. Down the other side it's windy, cold and raining but still bright. It's steep and slippery. The Danes have streaked ahead to get lunch at the Hotel. It takes for ever dodging cow plops to get to Vieux Crest, where there's supposed to be Hotel. We don't see it, but decide to have tea and our surviving apple strudel in the Ski Lift entrance where there's a real toilet. That mortadella and cheese with nutty bread would have been nice! Curse that fox, I hope he chokes on the plastic bag!
The Danes catch us up. They did find the Hotel, but could only get pasta. We walk together along the Ridge towards Resy, chatting along the way. It's a pretty walk through the forest, with waterfalls tumbling over the rocks after the day's rain. We come to a path junction and Simon and Jens head off down. They are headed down to St Jacques, another half hour down in the valley from Resy. We say good bye and continue on towards Resy, a small village of 3 buildings - one residence and two Rifugios - Frachey and Ferraro where we're staying. There's just a handful of hikers, some have come down from the 3,300 metre Theodule Pass which we'll do tomorrow, some from Col d'Olen which we did two days ago.
The Refuge Ferraro is warm inside. We're on the 3rd floor of a recently renovated wooden building in a 4 person room. We spread out to make it uninviting for anyone else. The showers downstairs are hot. There's no chance to do washing as it won't dry by the morning. There's only one more night at the high mountain hut of Theodule, which by all reports has no showers and a disgusting toilet, and then it's down to civilisation and Zermatt. So we'll make do for the next few days.
The dining room is warm and cosy and surprisingly there's WiFi. So we blog and catch up while waiting for dinner. Sitting at our table is an Italian couple, Marta, 29, and Marco, 34, who are both pharmacists in Milan. They are doing the 6 Refuge Circuit, which includes Ferraro, Vieux Crest and Alpenzu. It's a trek put together by 6 Rifugios in the area to attract walkers. Dinner is superb. Ian and Marco have a huge bowl of pasta and vegetables, Marta and I have thick soup of potato and peas. The main meal is a platter of small pork medallions with mushrooms and a huge bowl of green beans with a dash of oil, followed by chocolate pannata and a platter of selected cheeses. We're impressed. It's 9.30pm by the time we've finished chatting. Marco speaks English very well, and Marta a little. Bed time. We have the highest climb of our trip tomorrow to 3300 metres and we hope it's fine weather